A
recommendation from Andrew of The Stayawakes, this one… I’d been vaguely aware
of all-girl trio Peaness for some time, mainly by seeing their slightly punny name
cropping up on bills such as Indietracks for awhile, and I have to say I’d
mentally lumped them in with the likes of the poor Dream Wife as half-formed, ramshackle
indie DIY merchants with nary a tune to rub together to make fire. My mistake.
After Andrew’s recommendation, I checked out some YouTube vids (some stretching
back 6 years or so – have they really been around that long?) and really liked
what I heard; bright, buoyant tuneful indie pop and smooth girly harmonies, worthy
of filing alongside The Beths or even current “live” faves Coach Party. Nice!
Even better was that they were just about to release their debut album, “World
Full Of Worry”, seemingly collecting together most of these older YouTube
tracks in a one-stop shop collection. Result!
Next
stop a gig, then, and their current tour passed close by: I initially booked
for Southampton due to clashing dates, but then poor Peaness drummer Rachel got
Covid, then something called quinsy, requiring postponements and a short
hospital stay. When the dates were rescheduled, I was able to get a refund on
the Soton ticket and join Stuart and Nigel for the closer Bristol date. Result!
Again… Thus it was that we 3, along with Nigel’s son Alex, zoomed down to
Bristol for 7, grabbing a drink in the beer garden of The Lanes and enjoying
some rock chat (and games of gig “snap” with Nigel!). Popped opposite to Rough
Trade; my first actual gig here, rather than an “instore” performance
and signing sesh (which I count as a gig anyway, because I hear music but hey,
you know what I mean…), the only difference being the record store bit was
partitioned off! Had a word with the merch stand-bound Rachel (hoping she’s
over her quinsy, and showing her my arm tattoo – “Rachel” in Klingon! – to her
amusement), then we grabbed a seat and tried our best to ignore the support Try
Me; I’d briefly led the boys in to the venue to see them, but upon being
subjected to some terrible baggy rap and, realising my error, immediately led them back
out again!
Back
in this tiny black back room venue for Peaness’ arrival at 9.15; Nige and Alex
hung back but Stu and I were down the front, house left, as the girls eased
into their set with the lovely harmonies and hazy summery Marine Girls vibe of
acoustic opener “Take A Trip”, before kicking it up 20 or so notches with the
bouncy, buoyant “Kaizen”, with bassist and heavily tattooed main vocalist Jess,
possessor of a voice as pure as a mountain lake, augmenting her vocals with
whoops and yee-hahs. They clearly love it up there!
After
a fellow front row punter acted as shaker roadie for “How I’m Feeling”,
guitarist Balla, a Wootton Bassett native, commented, “this is as near to a
home town gig as I get!” and welcomed us Swindonians; Oxonian Jess retorted
with, “there’s some rivalry between Swindon and Oxford’s football clubs,” to
which some wag down the front (ok, me…) innocently inquired, “oh, do Oxford
have a football team then?” Arf! The girls then proceeded to play the whole of
their album start to finish, with the jaunty “irl” and a tougher, more strident
“Doing Fine” mid-set highlights. In between, we had light-hearted between-song
banter from this jovial, vivacious bunch, the girls introducing guest
keyboardist “Nikki Noodles from the Netherlands!”, then Jess lamenting the
drummer’s recent ailment with a clearly sympathetic, “Rachel got a pirate’s
disease!”, Rachel retorting with, “Jess was with me when I got [my abscess]
drained!”. Yuck!
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